Stun/fear lock will ruin r9 cup and most r9 squads with no synergy. Yes, you'll have to be within 3 relic tiers to beat most teams, but if you have an endless TM train or if you have stun/fear lock, those no-synergy squads will do nothing while the enemy autos the battle. Even with severe damage reduction, going at x4 speed with no delay for human choice and they're going to kill some toons. This is all the more true if the squad also produces Expose, Thermal Detonators, DoTs, etc. Those indirect methods of damage dealing (to say nothing about insta-kills from CAT/ Nihilus/ JKCK) are not subject to damage reduction.
Your points are mostly valid, but the crisis is only 80% as bad as you make it out to be. If someone is silly enough to put a trio of bad r9s with no synergy on defense in GAC, you can still beat them without wasting another r8+ squad.
Capital Games Team
